The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-04-09
TIE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

Joseph said to his brethren, "Be not
grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye
sold me hither: for COP hath sent me before
you to preserve life." Joseph could we'll say
this from the plane of his experience, but the
brothers could hardly feel the force of it.
They were not in the mood to take themselves
credit for what COP had done. They felt
themselves to be responsible for what they had
done. They had done evil, and the memory
of their deed and the sense of their guilt was
their tormentor. They must find peace, not
in the Divine philosophy, but in the Divine
forgiveness. Joseph would extend to them
his forgiveness, and would help them to a
sense of the Divine forgiveness by mani
festation of unmerited kindness and good
will.
Joseph further declared that COP had
brought him into Egypt to preserve through
him the family which He had chosen for His
own nation, and to deliver them out of the
danger of starvation that then threatened
them, as the seed of a very great nation.
And SO he says, " It was not you that sent me
hither, but COP, who hath made me the con-
fdential counsellor father and a ruler
throughout all the land of Egypt" Joseph
saw in the accomplishment of results the
evidence of Divine purpose His brethren
had sold him into slavery; GoD had promoted
him to position to preserve and prosper his
brethren, who we're divinely chosen to be the
seed of great nation that would finally bless
the world In accordance with this declara-
ton Joseph directed his brethren to return
without delay to their father, tell him of his
prosperity and power as ruler in Egypt, and
invite him in his name to come Immediately,
with all his family and possessions, into
Egypt, where he would provide him home
| in the land of Goshen on the border of the
country adjoining Canaan, that he might not
perish during the remaining five years of the
famine He attested the sincerity of all
his words by affeciionately embracing his
brethren with kisses and tears. He sue
ceeded SO far in gaining their confidence and
dispelling their fears of retribution, that they
entered freely and unreservedly into CONVEX
sation with him.
| Pharaoh, being informed of the visit of
Joseph's brethren, sent message inviting
them, with their father and their families, to
dwell in the land, promising to provide them
with the finest productions of the country, and
authorized Joseph to provide sufficient trans
portation and sustenance for the journey and
removal. Joseph did according to Pharaoh's
directions, and the brethren returned to their
father, laden with provision and presents,
the evidence of Joseph's good and desire
to have his father and his family dwell and
| Ao cd in he 10 4 oh 4
! set him to be ruler, "to preserve alive a
great nation " q. 20).
We may not be able to explain the philoso-
ply by which Joseph sought to remove the
burden of guilt from his brothers minds; yet
we are able to comprehend the fact of Divine
Providence, and to recognize the everything
hand and manifest purpose of COP in the
providences of life, even in the deeds and
career of wicked men, and in the ultimate
good results of wickedness. Our Christian
philosophy enables US to
thrust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill.,"
Though we may not be able to solve the
difficulty, it is the hope of the Christian that
the wrath of man shall always praise the
| LORD; that his wiekedness shall tend to the
promotion of Cons purpose, though it SEEM
ingly thwarts it for time; that Satan, rising
up against Satan, shall foil himself; and that
what the love of GoD contemplates, not all
the sins of man. in all ages and generations,
can Illustrate; that de, and He alone, can
purge the alloy of human error and fault,
and bring out, clear and bright, His golden
image in all the souls of humanity.
l cannot go
Where Universal Love smiles not around,
Sustaining all yon orbs and all their suns;
From seeming evil still educing good,
And better thence again, and better still,
In infinite progression.-IhO